them, withdrawn its business from Austria and retreated to Malta, but it has not paid back the players. Tis means that we are now forced to approach the Maltese government to remove the funds. You would imagine that a brand as well known as Mr. Green would comply with the standards and Austrian law. However, they still do not accept Austrian judgements.
We have started taking enforcement action in Malta. We are currently taking this action. Te gaming business is huge in Malta, but it is awkward for the government. During a recent hearing of the case against Mr. Green in a Maltese court, the MGA (Malta Gambling Authority) intervened in the proceedings and sat side-by-side with Mr. Green in the court. Tis is the situation in Malta. I trust the court system in Malta will come to the right judgement.
What is the consequence of these issues for the Austrian market? We have two very big withdrawals from the market, Tipico and Bet- At-Home have quit the market. On the other side we have especially aggressive marketing from Bwin and Mr. Green. Tey have taken over the market share of Tipico and Bet-At-Home. People are competing, so it is worthwhile staying in this market. At present, around 10 per cent of the players entitled to claim back their money have done so – which means that it is still very lucrative for Mr. Green and Bwin to stay. It is still big business for them.
In addition, these claims have also begun in the German market. In Germany, there is a new licensing system in place and we see the claims starting already. However, when you are able to go to Malta and obtain a gambling licence for €50,000, and can offer illegal gambling across the whole of Europe, even if many customers have the capability to claim back their losses, it remains a very unpredictable future.
“We implement the system on July 1, 2021. Our biggest worry, that we would lose customers from identifying themselves on the games, didn’t happen. The customers have learned really quickly to accept this new system. We implemented during Covid, which meant that the regulars learned the system first. I remember the discussion many years ago within the ECA meetings that if you switch to 100 per cent identified play you’d see a 40 per cent GGR fall, but we didn’t see the affect.” Tiina Siltanen
“A short lifetime of products is good for the economy, but not
for sustainability. We think that it is better to buy a product as a service, because when it is ‘pay-per-use’ like the
elevators in Venlo, the supplier is responsible for the functioning of the product or service. In this sense, the
manufacturer will consider the production of their product, to build it so that it lasts as long as possible, with little
Tiina Siltanen Veikkaus
At Veikkaus we came to the conclusion that we needed to move to 100 per cent ‘identified play’ within our’ casinos. What that means practically, is that whereas you’d normally register in the reception area of the casino, now you go to the slot machine and must enter your casino card, because without it the machine doesn’t work. When you go to a table game, you give your casino card to a dealer and they register you to the table and transact the cash you are changing. So we are gathering data from all sources, which is the same as when you cash-in your chips at the cage. All the connecting transactions are identified.
We were worried at the start. Usually, when your players are asked to identify themselves you seek to reward this type of arrangement.
P40 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
maintenance. I think this will change our way of thinking. And I hope in 10-20 years this become the norm.” Pieter Boers
Most operators offer a bonus system, giving away a bonus for registering, which was our idea too at the outset. However, Finland’s new lottery act would not allow us to do this, which meant we were implementing 100 per cent identified play without bonuses. So, we created a customer programme whose message was that this was a ‘whole’ customer system that was not player-specific. Te idea of the programme ‘know your game,’ was to encourage the player to learn about their own gaming behaviour. And the way you can control your behaviour is through unique responsible gaming tools. All these tools are available to every customer.
Pieter Boers Holland Casino
Holland Casino has built a beautiful casino in Venlo. During this build we learned that the life of a material does not end as waste. Te material at the end of a lifetime of use has at least the quality it started with, if not better. We reduced water use with building using the Cradle2Cradle philosophy, gaining building passports, which means that all the materials are documented so that we can find them and reuse them in the future. Te wooden flower in the centre of the casino, for example, is dismantle-able and can be reused again.
Cradle2Cradle means that you don’t need chemical in the construction process. We don’t use concrete – or keep to the bare minimum. Tese sustainability principles were integrated with the entire project. A short lifetime of products is good for the economy, but not for sustainability. We think, and we started in Venlo, that it is better to buy a product as a service, because when it is ‘pay-per-use’ like the elevators in Venlo, the supplier is responsible for the functioning of the product or service. In this sense, the manufacturer will consider the production of their product, to build it so that it lasts as long as possible, with little maintenance. I think this will change our way of thinking. And I hope in 10-20 years this becomes the norm.
We now have a panic button at the slot machine which, when pressed by the customer at the EGM, the machine asks if you want to stop all your gaming for that day? When confirmed they can no longer play during that period, which includes table games and slots. We also added voluntary loss limits and time limits on slots, plus a buying limit on table games. We cannot market our games to the public, but we can make them aware of the responsible gambling tools that we have implemented.
We implement the system on July 1, 2021. Our biggest worry, that we would lose customers from identifying themselves on the games, didn’t happen. Te customers have learned really quickly to accept this new system. We implemented during Covid, which meant that the regulars learned the system first.
When the restrictions lifted following the pandemic, and new customers started to come into the casino, we had more time to focus and teach them too. And they too learned really quickly, which meant that we did not see an affect on GGR. I remember the discussion many years ago within the ECA meetings that if you switch to 100 per cent identified play you’d see a 40 per cent GGR fall, but we didn’t see the affect.
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